Recent interest in health-related products has put many new kinds of health-teas on the market. These health-teas are not really teas. In other words, botanically, they are made from plants which are different from conventional tea and they are drunk as a substitute for tea. It is rare that we find tea boom. For the survey we chose five kinds of health-teas currently on the market and carried out sensory tests and qualitative analysis for heavy metals in the teas. The results are as follows:
1. We conducted a survey of six kinds of teas, including sen-cha, hiyama-cha, koki-cha, kuko-cha, Rooi-Bos tea and kakinoha-cha using female students between the ages of 18 and 22. Most of the participants in the survey responded that they had known about the various health-teas through the mass media and were interested in them. However, they had only tried them a few times. Many students answered they had drunk the tea for health-related reasons.
2. Results of the sensory tests for taste, color, aroma and general characteristics for sixty-six female students between the ages of 18 and 22 revealed that the most popular was sen-cha, choesn for color, aroma and general characteristics. Rooi-Bos tea was the least popular, falling at the bottom of the list in all aspects as regards taste, arma and general characteristics, the only exception being color valuation.
3. Results of the qualitative analysis of the six kinds of tea leaves show that manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), tin (Sn), rubidium (Rb) and barium (Ba) were detected in each. In addition, lead (Pb) was detected in five kinds of health-teas with the exception of hiyama-cha. Indium (In) was detected in five with the exception of koki-cha.